Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Affecting Fortinet FortiOS
A privilege escalation vulnerability has been identified in Fortinet FortiOS, allowing an authenticated local or low-privileged administrative user to gain super-administrator privileges on the appliance.
Description
Technical context and vulnerability details
FortiOS implements granular role-based access control (RBAC) to delegate administrative permissions across departments and operators.
These products are affected by the following vulnerabilities:
CVE-2024-40591: Improper authorization vulnerability (CWE-285) in the CLI parser module. An authenticated user with read-only or operator privileges can craft command parameters to elevate their permissions. Classified High with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2.
Potential Risks & Impact
Potential consequences upon exploitation
- Elevation of privileges from limited administrator to super-administrator;
- Unauthorized access to restricted configuration settings and credentials;
- Potential circumvention of administrative separation of duties.
Affected systems
Products, components and targeted versions
- FortiOS 7.4: versions 7.4.0 to 7.4.3;
- FortiOS 7.2: versions 7.2.0 to 7.2.7;
- FortiOS 7.0: versions 7.0.0 to 7.0.14.
Recommended Remediations & Actions
Immediate actions and recommended mitigations
- Upgrade FortiOS 7.4 to 7.4.4 or higher;
- Upgrade FortiOS 7.2 to 7.2.8 or higher;
- Upgrade FortiOS 7.0 to 7.0.15 or higher;
- Enforce the principle of least privilege on administrative user profiles.
Sources & External Links
Vendor security advisories and documentation
Advisory Specifications
CSIRT Emergency Response
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